Dynasty owners seek dismissal of suit filed by workers

The owners of Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino are seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit filed in federal court by over 500 current and former foreign workers, who alleged that the owners and management of Tinian Dynasty lied to them about their immigration status.

Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investments Ltd. and Mega Stars Overseas Ltd., through counsel Sean E. Frink, asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI to dismiss the lawsuit due to delayed service of the summons and complaint.

Frink said the workers filed the lawsuit on Feb. 4, 2015, and that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure requires that service of the summons and complaint must be made upon each defendant within 120 days after the complaint is filed.

Frink said 120 days after Feb. 4, 2015, is June 4, 2015.

The lawyer said the service of the complaint and summons did not take place upon either defendant on or before June 4, 2015.

Instead, he said, despite an agreement between counsel made in March 2015 for simplified service of process, Hong Kong Entertainment has not yet been served and Mega Stars was not served with either the original complaint or the first amended complaint and summons until Aug. 14, 2015.

The first amended complaint was filed on July 21, 2015.

Frink said it is clear that the filing of an amended complaint does not restart the running of the 120-day service period.

“Therefore, service of the appropriate summons and a complaint was required upon both defendants on or before June 4, 2015,” he said.

Importantly, the lawyer said, there does not appear to be any reason why timely service did not take place. For this reason, the court should dismiss the lawsuit without prejudice, he said.

Dismissal without prejudice, means the plaintiffs can re-open the lawsuit in the future.

The plaintiffs alleged in their lawsuit that the owners and management of Tinian Dynasty lied that they were legally authorized to work despite the denial of their CNMI-only Transitional Worker (CW-1) petitions.

The amended complaint adds a claim of constructive fraud against Tinian Dynasty’s owner, Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas Investments Ltd. (HKE), and HKE majority shareholder, Mega Stars Overseas Ltd.

The four other previous claims remain in the amended complaint. They are fraudulent concealment claims against HKE and Mega Stars, and negligent misrepresentation and wrongful termination against HKE.

The lawsuit has 15 named plaintiffs—most of whom have U.S. citizen children—and 500 unnamed co-plaintiffs.

Attorney Samuel Mok, counsel for the plaintiffs, asked the court to preliminarily and permanently stop HKE and Mega Stars from terminating plaintiffs’ employment or removing their name from an administrative appeal.

Mok asked the court to stop the defendants from forcing the plaintiffs to go against the law.

The lawyer also wants the court to declare as false HKE’s statement that it was legally permissible for the plaintiffs to keep working even though U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had denied their CW-1 petitions.

The plaintiffs are demanding damages, court costs, and attorney’s fees.

Mok stated in the complaint that HKE and Mega Stars knew at least 18 months before Dec. 8, 2014, that the plaintiffs’ CW-1 employment petitions were in jeopardy of being denied due to numerous written warnings by USCIS in the form of notices of intent to deny and notices of intent to revoke.

Over 500 foreign workers at Tinian Dynasty filed last December a separate lawsuit in federal court against Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and other federal officials over USCIS’ denial of the company’s 197 CW-1 petitions involving 693 beneficiaries. Attorney Bruce Berline is representing the workers in that lawsuit.

Also last December, HKE and its president and board chairman Kwan Man, through counsel Berline, have filed a lawsuit in federal court against U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez and other federal Labor officials for allegedly violating their due process right over their assessment of civil penalties of $191,400 for violating the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

A few weeks ago, Tinian Dynasty shut down its casino. Last week, Tinian Dynasty announced the full closure of both the casino and the hotel before the end of this month.